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RES-BOAT

Thematic promotion and dissemination campaign of project results and best available technologies on the Danube River

The European Union's dependence on energy imports is currently around 50% and it is expected to reach 65% by 2030 (status 2008). In response to the growing external dependence the European Commission adopted it's White Paper for a community Strategy and Action Plan COM(97) 599 "Energy for the future: renewable sources of energy". The White Paper's "Action Programme for Renewables" has a target to double the share of renewable energies in gross domestic energy consumption in the European Union by 2010. At the same time the use of renewable energy sources in the New Member States and the Western Balkan countries is very low compared to the EU-15. Therefore it is particularly important to support information flow, awareness raising and involvement of organisations in RES research and technology demonstration projects in these countries.

The main objective of the project was to reach a crucial mass in the promotion of RES project results (FP5, FP6, IEE and national programmes) in Europe through the highly publicised event series of RES-BOAT. Special emphasis was put on Central-Eastern and Southern Europe, promoting EC funded technology research results and demonstration projects successfully implemented worldwide. The purpose was to raise awareness about the importance of sustainable energy use.

This symbolic event series was held on a boat - the RES BOAT - during a voyage on the river Danube in March 2009 connecting Member States and Candidate Countries, bringing attention to the Southeast region of Europe. The RES BOAT passed through 5 countries - Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and Serbia.

Specific objectives

Summarise, display and promote all FP6 (+FP5, IEE) RES project results within the framework of a single high-impact European event series

Establish and maintain an Internet based tool for thematic promotion and dissemination in order to share and compare ideas between decision-makers, researchers and SMEs from the Member States and Associated Candidate Countries to bridge the geographical gap

Encourage the share of ideas, new technologies, business ventures and continuous interactions on a professional basis

Raise public and professional awareness of renewables and rational energy utilisation in Central-Eastern and South Europe by deploying a high public exposure conference series on RES and RUE

Get together all European stakeholders in a good atmosphere to promote the knowledge-transfer in the field of renewable energy sources at European level

Stimulate the direct and indirect communication between organizations from Member States (with a special emphasis on New Member States) and Associated Candidate Countries in the wide field of renewable energy